mike257

Oops, missed the other comment, sorry! I'd be interested to hear how you get on and how responsive the HTML5 interface proves to be in a real world situation. Look forward to your review!

[quote name='Monckyman' timestamp='1430518997' post='2762351'] The Behringer x-air range is about to be solidly thumped by the Soundcraft Ui range,sonically and financially. Got mine waiting to be picked up. Will report later! [/quote] That's been floating around for years as the SMPRO UMix series, Harman bought them out to get the tech. I tried the user interface demo before the acquisition and it doesn't appear to have changed under Soundcraft, just had the branding slapped on. I did a comparison on features for my boss at one of the production companies I work for, I'm angling for an X32 Rack or at least an XR18 for our small conference jobs, he's set on the Soundcraft because he gets a good discount from the distributor. I'd take the X Air over the Ui any day. It's definitely not a Soundcraft product in anything but name.

I think you should get right into PA stuff, I'd love to see a Barefaced take on a nice line array system!

White LX tape and a Sharpie here too. Even on an LS9! The decent stuff is easily removable and leaves little to no residue behind. Awfully fond of the "scribble strip" LCD screens increasingly found on new digital desks though. Much more elegant solution!

I find I can play pretty much any gig with my Sandberg JM4. J and (tapable) MM pickups, two band active preamp that can be bypassed if you want to go old school. I don't tend to fiddle much during a gig though. I'll usually dial in a sound that broadly suits the whole set and change playing style for different tones. Might roll the pickup blend about a bit but that's about the extent of it.

[quote name='Leonard Smalls' timestamp='1431090847' post='2767724'] I saw those Naughty Lumps a couple of times at Eric's in 1979ish. They were excellent, with Julian Cope on bass, Dave Balfe on keys and Bill Drummond: [MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXDWm8WE8S4[/MEDIA] [/quote] They reformed a year or two ago, I got asked to play bass for them. Had no idea who they were and passed on it - I was only born in '84 so missed the Eric's scene completely. Bloody terrible name, which was one of my first thoughts when I read the email!

Most good engineers/producers I know get their kicks from working with talented bands who do what they're doing well, moreso than honing in on a narrow genre. One of the best guys I know is building himself a really diverse portfolio but is also a great guy, easygoing and professional so people like working with him - this side of things is just as if not more important. You need someone who you can work with and have an honest exchange of opinions and ideas in a constructive way.

[quote name='geoham' timestamp='1427640104' post='2732558'] We're not exactly the youngest band. I'd probably have been a million times keener if I was ten or fifteen years younger minus the wife, kids and job! I'm 33 and the band range from 28 to 44. [/quote] I'm always wary of these types of setups, although ITB are the real deal in terms of booking agents (go have a look at their roster if you need any confirmation - http://www.itb.co.uk/roster). As others have said, I'd want to know if it was genuinely an event endorsed by them and who is attending. Agents are also listed by name on their site so you can see soon enough if that ties up. I've lost count of the times I've heard some one is coming to gig to check a band out and is nowhere to be seen on the night. The other thing to consider, unpleasant as it may be, is even if they are there, are they going to consider a group of thirty/forty somethings with careers, families and mortgages to pay a viable business investment in terms of breaking you as a new band. From what I see (I'm a sound engineer and occasional tour manager in the "day job ") everyone is looking for bands that are already doing it on their own steam to invest in. If you're not already up and down the country pulling good crowds into 200 cap venues across their the UK, and your personal circumstances mean you can't really go out and may the groundwork to do that, is it worth investing (probably, after all your expenses) the best part of four or five hundred quid on the off chance that a gig in a little run down Camden venue will be the catalyst you need? Apologies if that's a bit presumptuous as I don't know your band and circumstances, but that's pretty much the reality of it at this level of gigging.

Nothing with the same reach and impact, no. We got lucky with timing and caught the crest of the wave - every music loving teen was on it and we had nearly 400 through the door on our debut gig in late 2005 thanks to a mix of heavy MySpace promo and good old fashioned "pounding the streets with a bunch of flyers" work. By the time that particular band died two years later it had already peaked and was becoming less useful as a promotional tool because of all the spam, oversaturation from bands and audiences migrating to other sites. Fun while it lasted!

You might find some music to listen to on there but in terms of its use as a tool to reach an audience, it's dead. Used it heavily for my band back in its "glory" days c.2005/6 and it enabled us to build pockets of support all over the country and tour moderately successfully under our own steam but it peaked then really died out (much like the band at the time, haha!)

blue, If you make it to Liverpool, we'll grab a beer. There's a thriving Beatles tourism industry here so you'd find plenty to enjoy, although there's much more to the place too. I recently worked with The Shakers, one of The Cavern Club's house bands and they nail that early Merseybeat vibe better than pretty much any other band I've seen attempt it, sure you'd love them.

Watching this with interest as after never really feeling the need before, I've recently found myself on lots of key change filled dep gigs and having lots of "so that's why people play fivers" moments. Reluctant to move on either of my fours for now so a budget option is very much of interest!

[quote name='Paul S' timestamp='1421064307' post='2656652'] Now you mention that... I currently use just the one pedal. A tuner. One input, one output. All I need to do is put the lead from the 'tuner out' at the back of the amp into the 'input' of the tuner. Without my glasses on I can't see what is written on the tuner, nor can I remember which way round it is from the general shape and configuration. But even statistically you would think I could get it right half the time? No. [/quote] Next time you've got it out at home and can see it, tape over the "wrong" hole. You won't be able to plug in to it then!

What JapanAxe said. Repeated listening is great and has worked well for me in the past. It's much easier to busk your way through a song when you're familiar with it, you'll pick up on the musical and lyrical signposts to the changes more intuitively and won't need a mountain of notes in front of you. I do a lot of fairly last minute deps and i'm not a proficient sight reader so i'll listen as much as I can, work out the bulk of it by ear as I go and occasionally look at a dodgy tab or YouTube video to nudge me in the right direction for any tricky bits. I'll maybe have the starting chord marked on my setlist on the night, find it more useful than the key when the count in comes quick and you haven't got time to think! I will occasionally write out the changes for a section of a song that I'm not overly familiar with - rarely write out a whole tune though, verses and choruses usually stick, it'll be the odd middle eight or bridge that isn't repeated enough to be drummed into you. Most pop, rock and soul material you'll play on function gigs is fairly straightforward in terms of structure and changes, picking up the basic form of it and getting any majorly prominent hooks or riffs down will get you a lot of the way there when you've got to learn a set or two in a hurry.

I've got no objection to micing a hole-less kick if that's what i'm presented with. I've only ever asked a drummer to take the head off if it sounded like arse with it on. If it's a good sounding, well tuned and looked after kit and a good drummer playing it (if only all that happened more often!) then it'll sound mighty anyway. The steadfast insistence that you cut a hole in it regardless is a new one on me.

Not knocking the views of previous posters but I engineer at a bunch of venues and the sight of a band loading Line 6 Spiders in the door makes me want to cry. Maybe it's user error but they invariably disappear in the mix. are fizz city for high gain tones and don't convince for low gain edge of breakup stuff at all. Not a fan. If you want valves on a budget I hear a lot of good things about the Jet City stuff, well worth a look.

I'm a bit confused as to how you're looking to hook this up. You've described two devices (speaker and mixer) as having female connections for a mic input, which is the norm. A mic has a male XLR on board so you'd use a female to make from mic to mixer or speaker. If you're looking to connect the same mic to both, you might be looking for a Y splitter with a female XLR connector that splits the signal to two male outputs. Otherwise, if you're looking to connect the output of your mixer to the powered speaker, you may need a jack to Male XLR. If you can be more specific about what you're trying to achieve, someone can no doubt give you the answer. Connecting two XLR inputs directly together doesn't seen to make a whole lot of sense!

Haven't used the Digico stuff yet, the venues I work are all Avid, Yamaha and Soundcraft, be interested to hear how you got on. Heard mixed things about how straightforward they are as a "walk-up" desk if you've not had time to familiarise with it.

I do it off Spotify at function gigs, have a paid account and a fairly typical playlist ready to go, plus others with huge banks of tunes sorted by genre/decade ready to go, all saved for offline play so i'm not dependent on venue wifi. It's not 'proper' DJing but it does the job!

Another vote for K&M, all the serious venues I work in use them (or the Beyer branded ones) and they withstand all manner of abuse. Studiospares ones are a good budget option as unlike many cheap ones you can actually buy spare parts to maintain them as they break. I've had a few of theirs fail on me but only after heavy use in a busy venue. If it's for your own use and not being bashed around by all sorts then i'm sure you'll get good service out of one.

If you're ever coming up to the North West I'd happily oblige. I'm based in Liverpool with a 3.2kW HK rig which (despite what JTUK might tell you) sounds absolutely bloody brilliant. The feedback I get from the function bands I work with suggests that it's a worthwhile cost to them. I just wish I didn't get stuck doing it for my own bloody bands, must be lovely to just leave it to someone else to worry about!

I think it comes down to personal circumstances. Most of the gigs I do these days are the kind where somebody has paid a significant amount of dough to be entertained by professional musicians. If a piece of gear develops an issue, I don't want to be the guy holding up a dancefloor of wedding guests or cocking up a tightly scheduled corporate function while I bust out the toolkit and make a repair.. Makes the whole band look bad, kills any atmosphere you've managed to create and probably knocks you down the list of "people the bandleader is calling next time". This is my livelihood and I'm not about to be that guy that screws the gig, so I pack a spare every time. When I was touring playing noisy rock music and trying to "make it" back in my mis-spent youth I knew that we had to put on the best damn show we could in the 30 mins we were on stage, and I knew it wasn't unheard of for me to bust an E string every now and again, so I packed a spare every time. The only gigs I've really gone without one are little pub dep gigs close to home, where I'm in and out in a few hours for £50/60 and I travel as light as possible. On the whole, I think if you've got the means to transport one there then you should do. Doesn't have to be anything fancy, a second hand Squier Affinity will get you through a gig if your main bass fails you, so long as the show goes on!

Am I going to be the first to suggest taking up Planet Waves on their lifetime guarantee? Last PW cable that broke on me, I dropped an email to the UK distributor, popped it in the post and had a brand new replacement in my hand within a week or so. Whilst OBBM and Kabl both make great, reliable stuff and good cables are worth investing in, don't forget that you can get yours replaced without spending more than the postage to send it back!